Ryan Lochte's Blinged-out Grill Comes Courtesy of Rapper Paul Wall

If you want to know who is responsible for the utter ridiculous and completely over-the-top grill shining in Ryan Lochte's mouth, blame Paul Wall.

XXLMag reports (h/t TMZ Sports) famed rapper and maker of shiny grills Paul Wall was proud to provide some cool ice to for Lochte to flaunt at the Summer Games.

For him to represent us and our culture, the grill culture, it’s just shining a light on hip-hop in the Olympics. Everyone’s talking about it…it’s just an incredible thing to be part of. I’m just honored to be part of it. There’s not too many world-class swimmers wearing our grill.

Of course, there was a bit of a snag from uptight Olympic officials who didn't want to see so much bling on the podium.

As USA Today reported, Lochte was asked not to flaunt his ice when he received his first gold of the London Games.

This isn't nearly the first time Lochte has gone on to wear some serious bling in his mouth after an event. The USA Today report reminds us he did the same with a different retainer back in FINA World Championships.

For him to have the American flag in his mouth like that shows great patriotism! The grill he’s wearing is all hand-prong set, all VS diamonds and custom red rubies. What he has in his mouth is all hand crafted. Every diamond is set by hand—one by one, prong set and all custom red rubies. Of course we gave him an Olympic discount.

Photo Credit: TMZ Sports

Eh, not a fan.

I know I may just be a stick in the old-school mud, but I don't see the Olympics as the spot to show off thousands of dollars of jewels next to some amateur athletes who were happy just to get a free T-shirt.

I understand this is all part of Lochte's charm, and I agree that "to each his own" is a viable argument to something that hardly affects any of us watching from home.

It just wreaks of brash American ego, especially when an athlete later falls short of expectations. How about this? Leave the spectacular ice at home.

Instead, act like this actually is your first rodeo and be delighted, feign nerves and just be ready to compete against the best. It just plays better to the national audience.

Worry about how you look on the Today show or some other appearance you are sure to have.

Imagine LeBron James wearing the same after destroying the competition. In fact, I nearly blew my mind from the thought.

Let's leave the fine jewelry to those hanging around the necks of champions in the form of gold, silver and bronze.